Panda Express

Bypassing the myriad of other fast food/chain steakhouses/etc. in my trip to Stone Mountain, GA the other day (I just got home); I found myself at a Panda Express.
 
www.pandaexpress.com
 
Not knowing what to expect, I went in for a "to-go" order.  I chose the three-entree platter.  Of the ones I chose; I found that a particular one I had with sauteed chicken breast chunks in sauce and tempura fried green beans to be quite good and fresh.  The chicken was "real", also.  LOL.   I found all of the vegetables and meats in that and my other entrees to be very fresh and stir fried to perfection; including red and green bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, top round steak, and minced ginger. 
 
What are your thoughts on this place?  Agreed; not of Cordon Bleu expertise; but of a very good quality and price at only about eight dollars and some change.

Oriental food chain..Found in lots of malls...

Baah Ben


Oriental food chain..Found in lots of malls...

Also many airports.  I have found it unusual as they are often open for breakfast.  The menu is the same as lunch but it appears that they sell a lot.  I have done that many times going through the Cincy airport in concourse A.
 
Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN 

We used to visit the P.E. not far from our home in SoCal on a regular basis. Depending on the number of people involved we would either do as Joe did and get he 3 item 'dinners' or the Dinner for 4 which used the typical take-out boxes for the three items plus fried rice and noodles and extra stuff. The dinner for 4 was around $20-$24 as I recall but would feed an army!

  Our favorites are the Orange Chicken, The tough and chewy BBQ Pork, and the Mongolian Beef with Mushrooms and Onions. 

On our trip out West a couple of years ago we did the drive-thru at the P E in Cedar City, got our food to go and sat in a nice city park for a Chinese Picnic. It made for a nice change of pace from our vacation fare!

Hey!  This post made me go from -4 to -6 .  LOL.  I need more!  Thanks!  ;)

They vary from location to location.

You need to hit it when the particular item you want was just put in the pan or you get picked through food remnants.

Some are heavy on the grease.

Make friends with the server and you could be the one that gets all of the good stuff out of the pan.

All in all not bad for a quick bite as I have one about 5 doors down from my store.

I had never seen one before.  That was the what I thought the obvious reason I posted this thread.  Oh and yes mar52; I learned that trick a while back.  :)

Baah Ben


Oriental food chain..Found in lots of malls...

Yeah, I was hesitant to really rip into this place when I first had it back when I was at Penn State.  There was one in the student union (The HUB) that loved to load up on the rice or lo mein, but skimped on their meats.  To be fair to Panda, there was also a Sbarro that wasn't very well run (although it did have dollar slices on Saturday nights), and a Chick-Fil-A that was Dis-gust-ing (got heat lamp?).

Pandas seem to be pretty consistent: you can get better and more, for less mind you, just about anywhere else out there.  Panda's lo mein is disgustingly greasy, and its fried rice is just about as Americanized as that jewel of the Orient: Bird's Eye stir fry mixes.  The orange chicken, to their credit, is good, as is their chicken egg roll, but the chicken egg roll, for as little as it is, is placed as a meat choice, and if you want "a little more" orange chicken after you see what falls off that modest serving spoon, expect to pay up for it.  I thought there would be places I'd find this outside the "mall-like" setting, and I was wrong.

Adjudicator

 in my trip to Stone Mountain, GA the other day (I just got home); ange.

Wow, Adjudicator took a trip??!!
 Alert the media!

oh....wait....Stone Mountain is in the same state- isn't it? 

Sundancer 7 - It does seem strange they'd be open for breakfast except for the fact that some people are actually eating their dinner when others are eating their breakfasts. 

I also believe their lease requires they be open certain hours.

 While I have seen (and visited) some of the Mall and Tollroad stands, the two Panda Express stands that I found to be "Better than Average for that company" were what I would call 'regular FF stores'. One on Bear Valley Road in Hesperia, CA and the other across from the Walmart on the South end of Cedar City, Utah. I would recommend either one for a change-of-pace FF lunch or dinner.

They are Ok for what they are and they have some inferior imitators (e.g "Panda House" which we have in my Arizona town =  more expensive and less good).  It may say something that the location in SF's downtown San Francisco Center urban mall tends to be very busy in spite of being in the city with, perhaps, the most (and some of the best) Chinese restaurants per capita anywhere outside Asia.  I've been known to eat there without regret.

I have an educated eater friend who has good things to say about the place.

There is a Panda Buffet in Terrell Texas that has some of the best dark oriental soup I have had. I tell my grandzillas that they serve grilled, smoked, and boiled Panda Bear dishes of all kinds. None of them want to go there. :~(

It's CC's for them. It's not the food, but the games, that they like there. I can manage to make a pretty good salad when I go. ~)
Joe

It's ok, they are supposed to be a gourmet fast food chain.  I usually see them all

over! I prefer Manchu Wok which I see in most malls.

I am a native Pasadenan and in the early 1970s the original Panda Restaurant opened here in Pasadena's upscale Hasting Ranch area. It was an immediate hit, they served 'gourmet' meals in a very nice rstaurant that quickly expanded in size to accomodate the dinner crowds. I loved their steamed whole snapper with tons of ginger and garlic as well as their other seafood specialites and interesting authentic dishes. They did a tremendous take out and lunch business as well. Many of their clients came in from the next town over-Arcadia so sometime in the early 80s they announced they were opening a branh of take out only food inside a high end Von's Supermarket in Arcadia to accomadate their numerous customers, a brilliant move. After that they began to open the proto-type of what is now their Panda Express outlets, I don't believe thay are franchises as they are still  a family owned corporation. meanwhile the original Restaurant has remained intact although it is not as good nowadays as it was back in the day.  I haven't been there in a few years as I have other favorite "gourmet" and authentic Chinese and Asian eateries that abound in Metro LA
 
 
 

you don't have a local mom&pop chinese joint in your town?
Panda Express?
thats the asian (sp) equal to McDonalds











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I remember one opening outside Denver in the early 80's.  It was a free standing building and my first experience with both a Chinese chain and one with a drive thru.  They went out of biz and were replaced with an El Pollo Loco.

sk bob


you don't have a local mom&pop chinese joint in your town?
Panda Express?
thats the asian (sp) equal to McDonalds
 
But of course we do, here in the Rose City-Pasadena both take out and eat in of various levels as well as dozens within a 1/2 drive from my town. Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Thai, fusion, every conceivable style including Mexican-Asian blends.
 
With all due respect SK you didn't comprehend my post, I was referring to the "mothership" the Panda Inn restuarant which has nothing with the fast food chain Panda Express other than ownership. I even mentioned that it has been several years since I ate at the restuarant because of the growth of indy Chinese/Asian restaurent choices.
 
I know Daytona and the surrouding area as I do South Florida, there's no comparison in Asian/Chinese choices between your city and mine. So Cal is a mecca for Asians of every stripe-far outranking the Asian influence of all of Fl
 
Panda Express IMO is a cut above being the McDonald's of Chinese take away, there are far worse











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jonjax, I didn't respond to YOUR post.
the thread is about Panda Express.
I responded to the thread.
YOU didn't comprehend that.

sk bob


jonjax, I didn't respond to YOUR post.
the thread is about Panda Express.
I responded to the thread.
YOU didn't comprehend that.

 
My bad!!!  Your post was the subsequent one to mine and so I thought it  was in response to mine since no other reference was made. Oh well, live and learn.......
 
"Some folks eat to live, others live to eat"


 

Although I've never cared much for Asian cuisine, I do like the orange chicken and Mongolian beef at Panda Express. I probably go there maybe two or three times a year.

no problem jonjax7.